The most original and authoritative voice of today's English lexicography presents a fully revised new edition of his beloved usage dictionary When Bryan Garner published the first edition of A Dictionary of Modern American Usage in 1999, the book quickly became one of the most influential style guides ever written for the English language. After four previous editions and over twenty years, our language has evolved in many ways, and the powerful tool of big data has revolutionized lexicography. This extensively revised new edition fully captures these changes, featuring a thousand new entries and over two hundred replacement entries, thoroughly updated usage data and ratios on word frequency based on the Google Ngram Viewer, a more balanced coverage of World Englishes, not just American and British, and the inclusion of gender-neutral language. However, one thing has not changed: in no sense is this a "regular" dictionary but a masterpiece of lexicography written with wit and personality by one of the preeminent authorities on the English language. To put it in David Foster Wallace's words, Garner's discussion of rhetoric and style still "borders on genius." From the (lost) battle between self-deprecating and self-depreciating to the misuse of it's for its, from the variant spelling patty-cake taking over pat-a-cake in American English to the singular uses of they, Garner explains the nuances of grammar and vocabulary and the linguistic blunders to which modern writers and speakers are prone, whether in word choice, syntax, phrasing, punctuation, or pronunciation. His empirical approach liberates English from two extremes: from the "purists" who maintain that split infinitives and sentence-ending prepositions are malfeasances and from the linguistic relativists who believe that whatever people say or write must necessarily be accepted. The purpose of Garner's dictionary is to help writers, editors, and speakers use the language effectively. And it does so in a playful and persuasive way that will help you sound "grammatical but relaxed, refined but natural, correct but unpedantic."

Published in hardcover as The Penguin Roget's College Thesaurus in Dictionary Form, this new paperback edition of the 20-million-copy bestselling thesaurus has been fully revised, expanded, and updated for the modern home, school, or office.

Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus is a reference tool for anyone with a need to compose unique, descriptive phrases. It's a great tool for creative writers of any genre including students, people just learning English, people wanting to improve their communication skills, artistic professionals like photographers, videographers, models, actors and many others. Anyone who enjoys reading unique descriptive phrases will love Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus because it is packed full of descriptive phrases on every subject ...from descriptions of the body, and how it looks, moves and interacts ...to word pictures describing of all types of landscapes, waterscapes and skyscapes. The printed books are split into 4 volumes. This book, PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES, encompasses all of the body describing how different parts of the human body look, from head to toe. This book covers topics such as facial shapes and expressions, age and youth. There are descriptions for bald heads and different kinds of hair styles and colors. There are descriptions for skin colors and textures and all kinds of ways to describe eyes, ears, noses and mouths. The rest of the body is described in great detail as well. Just read the phrases and use what you want just as they're written or better yet, read all the suggested phrases in a particular category for inspiration to conquer your writer's block

Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus is a reference tool for anyone with a need to compose unique, descriptive phrases. It's a great tool for creative writers of any genre including students, people just learning English, people wanting to improve their communication skills. It is also useful for artistic professionals like photographers, videographers, models, actors and many others. Anyone who enjoys reading unique descriptive phrases will love Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus because it is packed full of descriptive phrases on every subject...from descriptions of the body, and how it looks, moves and interacts...to word pictures describing all types of landscapes, waterscapes and skyscapes. The printed books are split into 4 volumes. Volume 4 - EARTH VIEWS - This book consists of Landscapes (plains, hills, mountains, valleys), Waterscapes (waterfalls, streams, rivers, ponds) and Skyscapes (morning, sunny, cloudy, rain, space, stars) and much more. There is also a section for COLORS with descriptions for all the colors in the rainbow plus other things like metals, shiny, light, dark, day and night. Just read the phrases and use what you want just as they're written or better yet, read all the suggested phrases in a particular category for inspiration to conquer your writer's block

It's a writer's job to create compelling characters who can withstand life's fallout without giving up. But building authentic, memorable heroes is no easy task. To forge realistic characters, we must hobble them with flaws that set them back while giving them positive attributes to help them achieve their goals. So how do writers choose the right blend of strengths for their characters-attributes that will render them admirable and worth rooting for-without making it too easy for them to succeed? Character creation can be hard, but it's about to get a lot easier. Inside The Positive Trait Thesaurus, you'll find: * A large selection of attributes to choose from when building a personality profile. Each entry lists possible causes for why a trait might emerge, along with associated attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, and emotions * Real character examples from literature, film, or television to show how an attribute drives actions and decisions, influences goals, and steers relationships * Advice on using positive traits to immediately hook readers while avoiding common personality pitfalls * Insight on human needs and morality, and how each determines the strengths that emerge in heroes and villains alike * Information on the key role positive attributes play within the character arc, and how they're vital to overcoming fatal flaws and achieving success * Downloadable tools for organizing a character's attributes and providing a deeper understanding of his past, his needs, and the emotional wounds he must overcome If you find character creation difficult or worry that your cast members all seem the same, The Positive Trait Thesaurus is brimming with ideas to help you develop one-of-a-kind, dynamic characters that readers will love. Extensively indexed, with entries written in a user-friendly list format, this brainstorming resource is perfect for any character creation project.

A non-traditional thesaurus geared toward the writer of romance and erotic fiction, filled with all the words you need for your sexy scenes. Beautifully illustrated with traditional romantic scenes, this reference book is all the inspiration you'll ever want Updated regularly, the first half of Sexy Words for Writers is organized chronologically by order of events: our main characters meet, get to know one another, develop an attraction, do interesting and exciting things to each other. The sex act is also organized chronologically, in large categories from Undressing, through Afterglow, and right into Happily Ever After. We know authors have it rough, and we've made it easy for you to find a variety of ways to express your own tender, steamy love story- all in one place. The second half of the book is devoted to more general categories useful in sexy stories and scenes. He Is... She is... Body Parts & Descriptions Hair & Skin Logistics, Physical position Roughing it Each of these categories is then further broken down. For instance, under "He Is..." the reader will find entries for: Big, Hard, Brave, Strong, Skillfull, Hero, Handsome, and Masculine. Likewise for all terms in the list above. The Spring 2013 version includes an all new Alphabetical Index of all entries and links between relevant sections, making what you want even easier to find. Give TheSEXaurus a try... we guarantee you've never had a reference book this hot You'll launch yourself lustfully between the sheets of every sex scene after you've plunged deeply into page after fluttering page of the words for which we know you yearn.

Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus is a reference tool for anyone with a need to compose unique, descriptive phrases. It's a great tool for creative writers of any genre including students, people just learning English, people wanting to improve their communication skills. It is also useful for artistic professionals like photographers, videographers, models, actors and many others. Anyone who enjoys reading unique descriptive phrases will love Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus because it is packed full of descriptive phrases on every subject...from descriptions of the body, and how it looks, moves and ineracts...to word pictures describing all types of landscapes, waterscapes and skyscapes. The printed books are split into 4 volumes. Volume 3 - PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES - This book encompasses all of the body describing how different parts of the human body look, from head to toe. This book covers topics such as facial shapes and expressions, age and youth. There are descriptions for bald heads and different kinds of hair styles and colors. There are descriptions for skin colors and textures and all kinds of ways to describe eyes, ears, noses and mouths. The rest of the body is described in great detail as well. Just read the phrases and use what you want just as they're written or better yet, read all the suggested phrases in a particular category for inspiration to conquer your writer's block

Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus is a reference tool for anyone with a need to compose unique, descriptive phrases. It's a great tool for creative writers of any genre including students, people just learning English, people wanting to improve their communication skills, artistic professionals like photographers, videographers, models, actors and many others. Anyone who enjoys reading unique descriptive phrases will love Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus because it is packed full of descriptive phrases on every subject ...from descriptions of the body, and how it looks, moves and interacts ...to word pictures describing of all types of landscapes, waterscapes and skyscapes. This book, MOVING PARTS - Part 1, encompasses the top half of the body, describing how it moves and functions. Part 1 covers the everything to do with the head, including voluntary and involuntary actions such as listening, blushing breathing, winking, coughing, singing and much more. Just read the phrases and use what you want just as they're written or better yet, read all the suggested phrases in a particular category for inspiration to conquer your writer's block

Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus is a reference tool for anyone with a need to compose unique, descriptive phrases. It's a great tool for creative writers of any genre including students, people just learning English, people wanting to improve their communication skills, artistic professionals like photographers, videographers, models, actors and many others. Anyone who enjoys reading unique descriptive phrases will love Sybrina's Phrase Thesaurus because it is packed full of descriptive phrases on every subject ...from descriptions of the body, and how it looks, moves and interacts ...to word pictures describing all types of landscapes, waterscapes and skyscapes. The printed books are split into 4 volumes. This book, EARTH VIEWS, consists of Landscapes (plains, hills, mountains, valleys), Waterscapes (waterfalls, streams, rivers, ponds) and Skyscapes (morning, sunny, cloudy, rain, space, stars) and much more. There is also a section for COLORS with descriptions for all the colors in the rainbow plus other things like metals, shiney, light, dark, day and night. Just read the phrases and use what you want just as they're written or better yet, read all the suggested phrases in a particular category for inspiration to conquer your writer's block